Photo - Geoff Moxon
The buildings known to all those who passed through REME at Arborfield as the 'Sandhurst' block were opened on 1st May, 1939 and occupied by the Army Technical School. In October 1942 the buildings became the home of the REME Technical Training School. When 5 Battalion occupied the camp seems to be a bit of a mystery, but when we arrived in February 1959 it was already well known as the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
In this photo, the battalion armoury is on the right behind the signs. This is where we all had to collect our Lee-Enfield .303 rifles each Saturday morning ready for the regimental parade. The observation tower above the armoury was manned by a guard at night - his duty was to watch the man in the sentry box opposite, a procedure apparently in response to IRA attacks on British Army ammunition stocks. The guard commander could be reached by a field handset in an emergency.
There was a rugby/soccer field behind the armory which was also used for field training - I remember learning to throw dummy Mills-36 grenades there. In the background is the H-block for accommodations, on the ground floor of which at the front was the main dining hall.
On the left is the main Guardroom with a blast wall in front of the main door. Out of sight behind the Guardroom was an office block.
Although most of the activities were centered on training technicians to service and repair electronic equipment, there were also some experimental projects going on.
No 1 GW Course, 5 Bn REME, 1957.
Back Row, L-R: Can't remember, Alan Levitt, Bill Belcher, Bill Coupland, Spud Murphin, Nick Brittain, Mike Powell.
Front Row, L-R:Oli Oliver, Can't remember, Ken Macklin, Lou Chitty.
Pete Johnson,
Tony Heathcote, Bill Keogh, Charlie Hart-Ives, Keith Dodd, McKenzie.
Tony and I were posted to 47 Regt, Royal Artillery, Brackel, Germany.
Bill and Charlie were posted to 27 Reg, Royal Artillery, Crookham, Hampshire.
Keith was posted to 35 Base Workshops, Old Dalby, Derbyshire. Due to a bureaucratic foul-up he was later posted to the Benbecula GW Range as a Radar Mechanic without the GW specialist trade. I don't think he minded.
McKenzie didn't want to be a radar mech., and purposely failed every exam he was given until they offered him a position on a telecommunications course.
| At the same time courses were running in parallel for the trade of Electronic Control Equipment Mechanic - E.C.E.Mech - which included training on Centurion and Conqueror tanks. I knew some of those guys from guard duty etc. including Geoff Moxon and Bill Watkins, both of whom were later posted to 47 Regt RA. This photo of Geoff must have been taken in the summer of 1959 after a Saturday morning RSM's parade. |
Photo: Geoff Moxon |